Centaurs were beasts in Greek mythology that had the body of a horse and the torso and head of a man. They lived in the mountains of Thessaly in the northern part of Greece and were extremely fierce. They would eat raw meat. The very smell of wine would make them mad and they were known for their violent and licentious behaviour. Quite often they would fight amongst themselves or with the Lapiths, a people from Thessaly who became known mainly because of their fight against the Centaurs, together with Pirithous and his friend Hercules.

The Centaurs had all been invited to the wedding of Pirithous to Hippodamia because they were her kinsmen. Hercules, who was passing through at the time, was being entertained by the Centaur Pholus. Hercules insisted that Pholus open the jar of wine that belonged to all the Centaurs. Upon scenting the smell, they came armed with rocks and spears to Pholus’ cave, but they could not handle the wine and as usual they became intoxicated. A big battle took place in which many Centaurs were killed. Among those was Cyllarus, who was married to Hylonome.

Some of them fled and took refuge with Chiron who was a gentle and learned Centaur, at Malea where he lived after having been banished from Mount Pelion by the Lapiths. When Hercules found them he started shooting his arrows and during the battle he wounded Chiron in the foot. He tried to remove the arrow and applied a medicine that Chiron had given him. But the medicine was useless the arrows having been dipped in the poison of the Hydra. Chiron, by now in agony, wished to die but could not because he was immortal. Prometheus offered himself to Zeus to be immortal instead so that Chiron could die.

Pylenor was also wounded and washed his wounds in the river Anigrus thereby providing the river with a peculiar odour and contaminating all those who associated with it. Nessus fled but was later killed by Hercules after attempting to violate Deianeira but before he died he gave her some of his blood telling her it was a love potion that would keep Hercules faithful. But as Hercules’ arrows were poisoned, so was the blood of Nessus, eventually resulting in the death of Hercules.

Some time later, Deianeira spread some of the potion onto Hercules’ tunic to take with him on a tournament. It was after he had gone that she spilled some of the potion on the ground. It began to froth and bubble and she realised what she had done. She immediately sent word to Hercules but by then it was too late. He was already wearing the tunic. The poison ate into his flesh and he died a long and agonising death.

Astronomically, the Centaurs originate from the Kuiper belt which is a region of the outer Solar System that contains some two hundred objects. They have been sucked out of the Kuiper disk because of Neptune’s gravitational pull and thrown into short-term unstable orbits. They cross the giant planets’ orbits as they do so but approach no closer to the Sun than Jupiter.

Astrologically, the Centaurs represent areas of wounding of which we are yet unaware and as such all have a transformational influence. The manner of the wounding depends on the Centaur in question i.e. its part in mythology, its discovery chart, its orbit in relation to other planets and of course the aspects it makes to the natal chart. They are the bridge builders between the subconscious and the conscious, the messengers between dark and light. It is during their transits that we are given the opportunity to transform in order to move on.

Liz Seddon.